Police haven’t released the name of today’s Stupid Person of the Day, but he got himself killed by allowing a horse to have sex with him on a farm in Enumclaw, Wash.

The dead man was identified as a 45-year-old Seattle resident. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, he died of acute peritonitis due to perforation of the colon. The man’s death is not being investigated because it did not result from a crime. — Seattle Times

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how his colon got perforated.

In Fresno, Calif., on April 29, 11 year old Maribel Cuevas was being harassed by some schoolyard bullies throwing water balloons and rocks at her. She threw a rock back at one of them, and now faces charges of felony assault.

The rock hit 9 year old Elijah Vang in the head. When Cuevas saw he was bleeding and summoned help, police came in three patrol cars and a helicopter to arrest her, even though Vang admitted to starting the fight.

“She’s 11 … they’re treating her like she’s a violent parole offender,” said attorney Richard Beshwate, Jr., who is defending Cuevas.

News coverage is available from KFSN ABC 30 and Associated Press.

So now defending yourself is a crime in this country? Your Stupid People of the Day are Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer, who said that officers were justified in charging Cuevas with a felony, and Fresno County assistant DA Bob Ellis, who is prosecuting the case, even though Vang’s family is not interested in pressing charges.

We see examples of stupidity all around us every day. From the driver who turns right from the left lane, to the waitress who can’t add or subtract, we are surrounded by it.

As the premise of this site is to eradicate stupidity, I’d like to hear from you on how that might best be accomplished.

If you have an idea on how to reduce or eliminate stupidity, post it below.

Kathryn Skinner, of Exeter, U.K., has been sentenced to three years in prison for waging a campaign of terror on a six year old girl and her family.

Skinner, now 40, spiked children’s drinks at birthday parties and put razor blades in school bags and lockers so her friend’s daughter would get the blame.

She stole money and planted it in the young girl’s bedroom, slashed the family’s clothes and even faked hate mail from the youngster claiming she was being mistreated by her mother.

She did it in such a way that the youngster would be wrongly blamed - and she watched as the distressed girl was excluded from school, put into therapy and came close to being taken away from her distraught parents. — This Is Exeter

Skinner then pretended to be a family friend, “helping” the poor girl’s mother. “Kathryn Skinner was a close friend and I had known her for 14 years. I thought she was helping our family through it and supporting us but all the time she was twisting the knife,” she said.

Congratulations Kathryn Skinner, you are Stupid Person of the Day.

It could have happened anywhere but this time it happened in Florida: a boy pointed a loaded gun at his brother’s head, pulled the trigger and was surprised when the gun went off. According to a story in the St. Petersburg Times, 17-year-old Dustin Ford’s sentence is to complete a program of therapy, school and work at a faith-based camp called San Antonio Boys Village.

For the accidental death of his younger brother, Dustin Ford will spend seven months at a boy’s camp. Meanwhile, millions of American boys will attend schools where guns are taboo and gun safety, by association with that taboo, is completely ignored.

Where is “gun safety” in this program? In a country that allows families to keep guns, kids should be taught to respect them. When I was a kid too small to fire a 12-gauge shotgun, I was big enough to know that you don’t play with loaded weapons and you don’t point guns at anyone you don’t mean to shoot. Dustin Ford would not have accidentally shot and killed his brother if he had known the first rule of gun safety: ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

[Editor's note: Always assume a gun is loaded until you have cleared it yourself. Always point the gun in a safe direction. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. And remember, even if you have no guns in your house, your children's friends might, and still need to know what to do if they see a gun.]

Moises Hernandez, 19, of Chicago, a U.S. Marine, had his cousin shoot him in the leg so as to avoid having to be sent back to Iraq.

Hernandez is back with his unit at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and the Marines are investigating the incident. His unit had returned June 5 from a six-month deployment that included a month in Iraq. — Fox News

He has been charged by civilian authorities with filing a false police report, but I expect that the Marines will be much harder on him.

Melissa Irene Tanner, 37, of Dewey, Okla., gave birth while drunk on 30 June to a baby girl. Tanner had been drinking throughout her pregnancy, and the baby is suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome.

According to the [probable cause] affidavit, deputies reported that upon entering Tanner’s hospital room, “a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage was immediately present upon entering the room.” They further reported that when speaking to Tanner, “her speech was slurred or thick, (and) her eyes appeared slightly red.” — Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise

The baby is in specialized foster care and Tanner is in jail on child neglect charges.

William Crutchfield of Snellville, Ga., shot his mail carrier trying to get a life sentence in prison, so as to avoid paying $90,000 in medical bills.

Despite being shot seven times, postal carrier Earl Lazenby survived the attack.

“He was saying that he wanted to be cared for by the federal government, that he was in poor health and wanted to be taken care of,” Atlanta postal inspector Tracey Jefferson said. — BBC

For whatever little bit of life you’ve got left. William Crutchfield, you are Stupid Person of the Day.

Running into a bee colony with your car is quite a stupid thing to do, and two men and two teenage minors are now in the hospital in Orlando, Fla., after suffering multiple bee stings.

The bee yard is hidden away inside acres of orange groves. But deputies say 18-year old Adam Tyson, 20-year-old Jason Krueger and two younger teens found them anyway, backing their truck right in. But then their truck got stuck in the sand and they had to call 911 when hundreds of thousands of bees started swarming.

“A lot of ‘em were probably just trying to get back to their home and their home was mashed all over the ground,” [beekeeper David] Miksa explained.

All of the boys were stung. At least two went to South Lake Hospital for treatment. Miksa said, with millions of bees in his hives, the boys could have been killed. — WFTV

The four face charges of trespassing and criminal mischief.

Every once in a while you’ll hear a story of someone keeping dozens or even hundreds of cats, alive or dead, in their homes. The cats are usually so sick they have to be euthanized. Today’s Stupid Person didn’t stop with one home.

Ruth Knueven, 82, was arrested after authorities found hundreds of cats, alive and dead, in her Mount Vernon, Va., home on 8 July.

Well, it turns out she owns a second home in Burke, Va., and investigators found over 150 cats in similar conditions there. Neighbors report that she was seen carrying out garbage bags full of dead cats prior to her arrest.

“All of these cats had respiratory disease and there were feces and urine all around the house,” said Officer Richard Henry, a Fairfax County police spokesman. He said all the cats found alive in both homes had to be euthanized. — Associated Press

A man visiting the zoo in Cherkassy, Ukraine, jumped a bear cage and tried to attack a bear. Drunk at the time, the unidentified man pretended to be a bear trainer. The bear wasn’t fooled and attacked him, and he is at a local hospital in critical condition.

Children in Idaho are playing a choking game with deadly consequences.

Ten year old Dalton Eby of Boise was found dead last Friday hanging from a tree after playing a “pass-out game.” His mother had reported him missing the previous night when he failed to return home.

Three months ago 13 year old Chelsea Dunn of Nampa was found dead after hanging herself in a closet.

Younger kids don’t know that they can die from this, that it’s a very dangerous activity. Sometimes kids hear about it, that other kids are doing it, but they don’t hear the rest of the story, the risks. It’s like diving into a pool in the shallow end — parents have to tell their kids not to do it. — Dr. Lawrence Shapiro

By the time I was 10, I had seen enough Westerns to know exactly what happens when you are hanged, and there’s no way I would ever have done it, even as a game. It’s clear today’s children aren’t watching enough television. If you live in Idaho, lose the PS2 and show your child Gunsmoke reruns.

[Editor's note: What's with people putting their children in their car trunks these days?]

McLean, Va. — A Stafford woman was charged with felony child abuse and child cruelty Friday after she allegedly forced two of her children to take turns riding in the trunk of a car on an eight-hour drive from Alabama to Virginia.

Schoonmaker was driving five children, ranging in age from 12 to infant - July 1 to her ex-husband’s home in Aldie in a rented Nissan Sentra, according to Curtis Schoonmaker, her ex-husband.

“She claims she doesn’t see the harm in it. She didn’t believe any accident would result,” Curtis Schoonmaker said. — WTOP

Schoonmaker faces five years in prison on each count. She is currently free on $5,000 bond.

[Editor's note: P.S. Welcome our first guest blogger, shep!]

Hockey mom Jane Emlyn wants the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association to drop its requirement that male and female players change in separate rooms.

She wants the Lumber Minor Hockey Association to let her 14-year-old daughter, Jewel, change in the same room as the boys on her mixed team. So determined is this mother, she took her fight to a human-rights tribunal in Vernon yesterday. — The Province

Congratulations, you’re Stupid Person of the Day.

Jose Raul Lemos, of Los Angeles, and his 19-month-old daughter, were shot and killed today when he engaged in a gun battle with Los Angeles police.

Lemos was reportedly intoxicated on drugs and alcohol at the time, firing at officers with a 9mm handgun and a shotgun, and officers returned fire in self-defense.

More from Associated Press

This guy is definitely Stupid Person of the Day for getting his daughter killed.